Stock Screen v.1

U.S. stocks on Wednesday ended lower after a late-session lapse that coincided with a drop in the euro below a key threshold, as investors focused on reports that China might review its European bond holders.  (MarketWatch)

Currencies

Quote of the day:

Debt will get you in trouble – on both sides of the dollar bill as Shakespeare wisely counseled long ago: Neither a lender nor a borrower be. That probably seems like a strange admonition coming from a guy who helps to lend $1 trillion of it – and I suppose it is.  — Bill Gross, Managing Director – PIMCO.   Read the rest of Mr. Gross’s June 2010 investment outlook here.

This evening I put together a quick stock screen that yielded some interesting results from a valuation perspective.  The characteristics of the screen are as follows:

Market cap:  300m +

P/E ratio:  5 – 15

Div yield (%): 1.0 +

52w price change (%):  0 – 50

Price to sales:  1.0 – 2.0

Current ratio:  1.0 +

ROE (TTM) %:  0 +

ROA (TTM) %:  0+

Average volume:  500k +

Beta:  0.5 – 1.5

5yr EPS growth rate:  0 +

And the results are in:

I think I am liking this screen thus far.  I was going to take the time to research YTD performance of each of these stocks and compare to the S&P 500, but I am simply running out of time tonight.  The full results of the screen including criteria results are here. My hope is that I can develop three to five screens which have differing characteristics and track the screen results on a monthly basis.  I will then utilize the screens for additional technical analysis to determine buy/sell points.  You can check historical prices by symbol at Yahoo!. 

Happy Trading!  This week is quite busy at work and I didn’t get home until later this evening (didn’t even get to play with baby Mia!).  However, I hope for some more detailed analysis in the upcoming evenings, as opposed to simply news, notes and thoughts.

P.S. — let’s end this post on a high-note, unlike most of the financial pundits out there who are doom-and-gloom.  Dow 20,000?  Read the article to understand his point.